The 49-year-old actor has had a prolific career that’s included an Oscar win and four Razzie nominations. He recently played a caveman in animated film The Croods.

Is it true that before he asked you to play a cowardly Neanderthal, Croods producer Jeffrey Katzenberg had asked you to voice Shrek? Yeah, and I’d said: ‘I don’t want to look like that guy.’ Now I wish I had done it. When he showed me pictures of Grug and said: ‘You see how I see you, Nicolas? What do you think of that?’ I had enough presence of mind not to say anything but yes.

Did you see yourself the way he did? No, I have trouble with the idea of living in fear. That’s never been who I am. Grug is an overprotective father and takes it too far, to the point where his family feel like they’re surviving, not living. But any father who cares about the ones he loves is going to worry. I have those feelings too.

What are the two biggest risks you have taken personally and professionally? Did they pay off? Well, in both cases I have no regrets. And yes, in terms of emotional wisdom, I guess they paid off. In my work, the risk was to be a dramatic actor who’s acting like an action hero and that was a challenge because no one thought I could do it. And if you say I can’t do something, I have to do it. And in my personal life, I have been a romantic and I have followed my heart. That can get one into trouble as we all know, three marriages later.

Grug pioneers the hug. Are you a hugger? Hey, I’m in touch with my feelings. It’s important to say ‘I love you’. You never know what’s going to happen. You don’t want to end on a bad note.

Does doing animated features connect with your love of comic books? Look, the truth is I’m not obsessed with comics. I don’t read comics as a 49-year-old man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I have other interests that are more in tune with where I’m at right now. But I’m loyal and I will never forget the impressions that comics gave me as a child. They are like primitive cartoons and those characters became like a modern mythology that’s touched the world. So animated movies are like cousins to comics.

Pictures of you dressed as Superman for Tim Burton’s aborted movie surfaced online. How close did you come to making the film? Very close. Look, I’m not going to be one of these guys that’s going to be, like, lamenting things. But is Tim Burton one of my favourite directors? Yes. Did I see some of the drawings of where he wanted to go? Yes. And I will tell you, they were fantastic and it would have been a mind-blowing experience. Did I have a concept of how to play the character? Yes, and I can tell you it would have been gutsy. So maybe Warner Brothers got scared because they had two artists that weren’t afraid to take chances.

Do you ever think back to when you won best actor for Leaving Las Vegas? No, not really. I don’t dwell on the past. I don’t have any awards in my house.

Where’s the Oscar, then? It’s safe. Let’s just leave it at that. But look, I don’t take criticism seriously and I don’t take praise seriously, both would be a mistake. If you buy into the negative that is the internet today, or the cynical critic, it’s not unlike listening to an abusive father that’s trying to cave you in and you can’t function. If you buy into praise, to people who adore you, you might get lazy and say: ‘Well, I’ll just keep doing that.’ You have to stay uncomfortable.

Is that philosophy something you’ve picked up from experience? I learned that from David Bowie. I said: ‘How do you do it? How do you keep reinventing yourself?’ He said: ‘I just never got comfortable with anything I was doing.’ I knew those were words of wisdom from a great artist and I took those words seriously. Yeah, it’s not always going to appeal to everybody but, if you’re honest to yourself, there’s a very good chance people will relate to that.

On your Wikipedia page, there’s a section about all the houses that you own or have owned. Do you mind this information being so public? What can I do about it? The issue is people’s misperceptions. They try to blow it out of proportion in terms of excessive spending but, really, it’s because I believed in real estate, and look what happened. You can’t dump real estate fast enough and when the whole thing went in the wrong direction, I got caught up in it. But, hey, everything happens for a reason. I’m still passionate. I’m feeling good.